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Mayweather wants Broner to fight at 140 on his undercard in May

By Eric Thomas: Floyd Mayweather Jr. feels that Adrien Broner (27-1, 22 KO’s) isn’t big enough to be fighting in the welterweight division at this time, and Mayweather wants him to move down to 140 lbs. and fight on his undercard on May 3rd in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mayweather believes that Broner made a mistake in choosing a big puncher in Marcos Maidana to fight last Saturday night instead of a lighter puncher. It was too much of a jump up from the lightweight division in terms of power, Mayweather feels.

The light hitting Paulie Malignaggi was a good choice for Broner last June, but Mayweather feels Broner made a mistake in picking a slugger like Maidana, because he wasn’t ready to be fighting those types of guys yet at 147 due to his body not having the power yet.

“I think 135 or 140 is a good weight class for Adrien Broner,” Mayweather said to Fight Hype. “I don’t think he should be focused on chasing the Maidana fight. I think what would be a good move for him is this: Mayweather 3rd, fight on my undercard…fight a solid guy at 140.”

Broner weighs as much as Mayweather does for his fights, but the real difference between them is the speed. Broner fighting at 140 might be the answer to his problems, but he’ll still find himself in a situation where he’s outgunned if he fights punchers like Lucas Matthysse and Danny Garcia. Broner won’t be able to outwork those guys, and his power isn’t enormous at this weight like it is at 135. Broner might be wasting his time in the light welterweight division unless he can improve his footwork and work rate.

There’s nothing Broner can do about his lack of hand speed. That’s something he’s going to have to live with, but he can definitely fix his stationary fighting style, and become better at moving around the ring to avoid getting hit by the bigger punchers. His trainer Mike Stafford should have fixed that problem in Broner’s fighting style a long time ago. The fact that he didn’t suggests that Stafford might not be the guy that should be training Broner at this point. If Broner wants to get to the next level, it might be time for him to get a better known trainer that can see the flaws in Broner’s game and quickly fix them.

It would be a smart thing for Broner not to fight Maidana again, because if he faces so soon and with the same trainer, we’re probably looking at the same results as last time. Broner’s not going to get any stronger in the next six months, and Maidana’s not going to suddenly lose his punching power. The only Broner beats Maidana in the rematch is if Broner makes major changes with his fighting style to become more elusive, throw more combinations, use more head movement to avoid shots, and get away after he throws his punches.